PC Air set for Laos flights

Small private airline PC Air says it will begin operating charter flights this month with Bangkok-Vientiane service and will start serving China next month.Originally the charter service was to take off around the middle of this year or in the third quarter, but factors such as the flood disaster fo

Dec. 16, 2011

Iranian uranium to go into nuclear plant mid-February

Iran is to insert its first domestically produced high enriched uranium into its Tehran reactor by mid-February, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in comments published by the state IRNA news agency on Thursday.The announced deadline could sharpen international tensions over Iran's controversia

Dec. 16, 2011

Bootleg liquor kills 102 people in India

KOLKATA, India (AP) ― A tainted batch of bootleg liquor killed 102 people and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, officials said.Day laborers and other poor workers began falling ill late Tuesday after drinking the brew that was laced with the toxic methanol around the village of Sangrampur, about 30 kilometers south of Kolkata, according to district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam.“It’s a very sad thing that this has happened. Why don’t the p

Dec. 15, 2011

China vows crackdown on leaders of village revolt

BEIJING (AP) ― China’s government has vowed to crack down on the leaders of a revolt in a southern village and investigate local officials over land seizures at the heart of the residents’ unhappiness.China News Agency says the acting mayor of Shanwei city told reporters Wednesday that strong measures would be taken against villagers in Wukan who instigated others to create trouble and damage public property.Thursday’s report also says the mayor promised to investigate village officials for wron

Dec. 15, 2011

Papua New Guinea in political deadlock

PORT MORESBY (AP) ― Papua New Guinea politics were deadlocked Thursday, with two men claiming to be prime minister, two governments saying they hold power, rival police chiefs maintaining the peace ― and no one sure who actually was in charge.The power struggle in the most populous South Pacific island nation has exasperated the public and prompted union leaders to call on both men claiming to be prime minister to find a solution before the situation worsens.The country’s Supreme Court and Gover

Dec. 15, 2011

U.S. defense chief vows to continue intelligence operations in Afghanistan

KABUL (AP) ― U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday the U.S. will continue to conduct intelligence operations from Afghanistan like the recent mission that led to the loss of a drone over Iran, and he gave an upbeat assessment of the unpopular war.Standing with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Panetta provided a cryptic response to questions about the lost drone, which has exposed details of the little-known U.S. intelligence and surveillance efforts aimed at Iran.But the Pentagon chie

Dec. 15, 2011

1 in 4 U.S. women faces severe violence

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) ― One in four U.S. women say they have been hit hard, kicked or otherwise violently attacked by their intimate partners, according to a government survey released Wednesday that offers startling findings about domestic violence.The new national look at how many women say they’ve been abused offers some numbers that are higher than previous reports.One expert called the report’s estimate on rape and attempted rape “extremely high” ― with one in five women saying they were vi

Dec. 15, 2011

After deadly rampage, Belgian city asks, ‘Why?’

LIEGE, Belgium (AP) ― A card at a memorial to the victims asked the question haunting all of Belgium: “Why?”Why did Nordine Amrani, a 33-year-old with a history of lawbreaking, sweep into this city’s holiday shopping center to unleash a grenade-and-gun rampage that killed three people and wounded 123 others? Why did he then kill himself?Deepening the mystery, police announced Wednesday that another body had been found, that of a 45-year-old woman, in a shed where Amrani grew cannabis close to hi

Dec. 15, 2011

Obama can’t say it enough: Iraq war over

U.S. president relishes end of war he never supportedWASHINGTON (AP) -- Over and over, the Iraq war is over.President Barack Obama, who opposed the war all the way to the White House, can’t remind people enough that he is the one ending it and getting every last soldier home.He is not just the commander in chief intent on lauding the valor of the military. He is a president seeking re-election and soaking up every chance to make a promise kept.On Wednesday at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, a post

Dec. 15, 2011

Japanese farmer is French chefs’ secret

CHAPET, France (AFP) ― Not a trace of bitterness from the spinach leaf’s tip to its light, fragrant stem. Top chef Eric Briffard wouldn’t dream of cooking these crisp shoots, sourced for a small fortune from his treasured Japanese vegetable farmer.Asafumi Yamashita, a former boxer and semi-professional golf player, lives half a world away from his native Japan, near Les Mureaux in Paris’ far western suburbs, where he used to tend bonsai trees for a living.Until one day he was robbed and decided

Dec. 14, 2011

NATO says U.S.-Pakistan tie improving

Top commander sees progress toward end of communication blackout; Panetta visits AfghanistanKABUL (AP) ― Voicing cautious optimism, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday that he’s seeing signs of a possible lifting of Pakistan’s communications blackout imposed on the U.S.-led coalition after NATO airstrikes killed two dozen Pakistani forces last month.Marine Gen. John Allen revealed for the first time that he spoke on the phone Monday with Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kaya

Dec. 14, 2011

Pakistani police uncover chained rehab patients

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) _ Pakistani police discovered drug addicts held in chains at an Islamic seminary that offered rehabilitation services, and said Tuesday that young children were also sometimes shackled at the institution.The parents of around 60 young men at the seminary in the southern port c

Dec. 14, 2011

Obama calls on Iran to give back downed U.S. drone

The Obama administration has delivered a formal request to Iran for the return of a U.S. surveillance drone captured by Iranian armed forces, but said it is not hopeful that Iran will comply.President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. wants the top-secret aircraft back.“We have asked for it bac

Dec. 13, 2011